You hear a great deal about the public way. It hasn't as yet been restyled as the citizens' way, but it can surely only be a matter of time. The political new age demands that everything is in the name of the citizen, irrespective of whether a long-established term might carry a degree of legalese. And matters of legality dominate the public way. They are their own invisible obstacles to perambulating citizens. Or alternatively, they are means of liberating this people's space and consigning its defilers to cloistered huddles up against the windows of a bar - or not, as the case may be, and it is the case.
Where is this way, you may well ask. It is to be seen all around. It is walked on, sat on, ran on, biked on. Every street, every prom, the way is public. And this public dimension determines what parts of the public way can be scrutinised by security cameras. The public needs its privacy.
A conclusion that might be drawn by the very term the public way is that the public in some way owns it. This, despite the fight for the citizens' rights of way being waged by political parties, groups who wish to save this or that, Facebook and Change.org campaigns in states of high dudgeon, isn't the case. The public is lent its way. Someone else always owns it. Part of the problem, however, is knowing who. Or what.
Though the public does not have ownership, because of the new age, it does get its say. Hence, there was the citizens' vote to decide the fate of the terraces on Palma's Born. And the citizens duly spake - all some 3.75% of Palma's total population. The public way could be owned by the terraces - right down the middle of the wooded avenue - though of course the terraces (or rather the bar owners) do not own the way. The town hall does. The way, in this instance, belongs to it. In its magnanimity, it has permitted others to borrow it in return for sizable rental income.
Terraces are perhaps the most discussed of public way matters. How much terrace can or should there be? What should the furniture that sits on it look like and be made of? What hours can it be open for? Such questions exercise the minds of town councillors across Mallorca. The terrace, a symbol of summery and less than summery socialising for as long it has been since someone came up with the idea of sticking seats on the public way, creates its own controversies. And because of the legalese associated with the public way, these normally end up in, variously, fines, court appearances and the inevitable "denuncia". One man's public way is most certainly not another's. Or, one man would rather like to get his hands on a part of the public way currently being occupied by another.
This, at least in part, is the background to the social-network frenzy that has turned normally genteel Puerto Pollensa into a public-way fury. An ice-cream kiosk, there from a time when even the most veteran of Puerto Pollensa advocates would find it hard to dredge out reminiscence, is the subject of a public-way takeover. Or so it seems. The only problem is (not the only one in truth) that the cones have been served these past fifty years on what is clearly public way. Only now has it been decreed, for matters of strict legality, that there should be a tender for its occupation.
Of course, some bright spark might interfere by suggesting that this isn't public way for the town hall to determine. There was, as establishment owners will recall only too unhappily, some confusion as to who got the royalties for letting terraces occupy the public way. Both the town hall and the Costas Authority were, until it was finally realised that it couldn't be both of them.
In Palma, where the public way is debated more than anywhere else, they're now talking about ensuring that every single terrace conforms to standards of furniture design and colour. This has happened elsewhere in valiant attempts to make the public way not appear to be a total mess of competing colours and bad taste parasols. On balance, it's probably reasonable enough, but nonetheless implies that orthodoxy must exist on the public way: any colour so long as it's a shade of beige.
There also needs to be consideration of Europe when it comes to public way matters. Another Palma terrace carry-on, involving moving terraces closer to their respective establishments, has had to take account of EU doctrine for there being a public way corridor by buildings so that the blind have access and can tap the buildings with walking-sticks.
It can all get terribly complicated. But ultimately, how much way does the public actually need? A great deal, it would seem.
Showing posts with label Terraces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terraces. Show all posts
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Wednesday, December 09, 2015
Vota Terrazas! Sí o no
The campaign's in full swing. Can we expect a televised debate? Will posters be hanging from every lamppost? "Vota terrazas!" A citizen of Palma might stare at this poster and wonder who he or she is. "Terrazas? I don't remember there being a Terrazas running for Congress."
This isn't an election campaign. Not for Congress or Senate. It is to elect terraces staying or terraces going. To terrace or not to terrace? That is the question. More or less. Terraces on the Born. Some say Borne. There are doubtless those who don't inhabit the micro-universe of central Palma who may well never have heard of the Born or Borne. Who may not know that it is both Passeig and Paseo. It has trees, so it would be better if it were an Avinguda or Avenida: avenues by definition of cliché must always be tree-lined. But no, it is Passeig and Paseo, and herein lies a clue to the campaign. Literally, either of these means a promenade, a word more associated with the seaside. It comes, variously, from Middle French (to go for a walk) or Latin (to drive animals onward). There are no animals being driven onward on the Born. Animals are not the debate. Walking is. Walking along the prom, tiddly-om-pom-pom.
Except they can't walk. Not with one, two, three, four terraces in the way. The citizens of Palma are enduring terrace terrorism. "Oh my, where can I promenade? How can I promenade when there are four terraces in the way?" The laments reached the ears of the town hall. Under a previous guise, one removed from the present administration, it allowed terraces. The current administration has heard the cries of the citizens. "Vota no!" And be sure to do so with the use of your citizen's card, as it's the only way that you will be able to. As of today and for the next seven days.
Not long in the post, the not-the-Podemos deputy mayor for public services, Som Palma's Aurora Jhardi, took it upon herself to make the terraces of the Born a battleground over a gentle stroll or a relaxing cup of café con leche. Aurora was digging trenches for the strolling citizenry. Relaxing cups of café con leche, right down the middle of the Born at any rate, were for Partido Popular-ists, Ana Botella having famously (or infamously) uttered the fateful café con leche line apropos Madrid's failed Olympic bid. But it was not only promenaders being denied their citizen birthright as a consequence of terrace invasion, there were also events traditionally held on the Born. There was the book fair, for instance, when vast stalls weighed down with mighty tomes expounding Catalan Marxist dialectic blocked the way of promenaders.
Aurora, to the chagrin of the bar owners, announced that the terraces would be no more, once what had been a trial period (of several years) ended in February next year. Little did anyone suspect, certainly not the bar owners, that a few months later, the citizens of Palma would be voting on their terraces. But that is exactly what they are doing, and Aurora and the town hall are delighted. Why? Because even if the vote doesn't go their way (it won't be legally binding in any event), the terrace referendum will have been a triumph for the new age of online democratic participation, albeit that, with some reluctance, the town hall had to accept that not all citizens are umbilically wired up to the internet: those who are not will be able to go to community centres and shown how to do it on a laptop brought in for the occasion.
Is it granting the town hall too much Machiavellianism to suggest that they might have had this in mind from the outset? Whip up a frenzy of publicity and then call a referendum, thus heralding the new age. Terraces may cause controversy, but they are hardly life or death (though they may be job or no job). They are a useful test project.
But test for what? Participation in the political process is an admirable, nay laudable aim, but there are limits and boundaries, and the terrace vote is not decisive as it has no legal authority. In a similar way, popular legislative proposals, such as the one which did for bullfighting in Catalonia, do not oblige parliamentary approval. The will of the people, sorry citizens, can be denied.
They are having their terraces' referendum, but if they can have one for these, then why not, say, one for the monument in Feixina park? Is a controversy that drags in old Nationalist-Republican feuding too hot a theme for the new age of participation, consensus and citizen proximity?
The consultative process cannot be selective, unless, that is, you hold a referendum to decide on whether to have a referendum.
This isn't an election campaign. Not for Congress or Senate. It is to elect terraces staying or terraces going. To terrace or not to terrace? That is the question. More or less. Terraces on the Born. Some say Borne. There are doubtless those who don't inhabit the micro-universe of central Palma who may well never have heard of the Born or Borne. Who may not know that it is both Passeig and Paseo. It has trees, so it would be better if it were an Avinguda or Avenida: avenues by definition of cliché must always be tree-lined. But no, it is Passeig and Paseo, and herein lies a clue to the campaign. Literally, either of these means a promenade, a word more associated with the seaside. It comes, variously, from Middle French (to go for a walk) or Latin (to drive animals onward). There are no animals being driven onward on the Born. Animals are not the debate. Walking is. Walking along the prom, tiddly-om-pom-pom.
Except they can't walk. Not with one, two, three, four terraces in the way. The citizens of Palma are enduring terrace terrorism. "Oh my, where can I promenade? How can I promenade when there are four terraces in the way?" The laments reached the ears of the town hall. Under a previous guise, one removed from the present administration, it allowed terraces. The current administration has heard the cries of the citizens. "Vota no!" And be sure to do so with the use of your citizen's card, as it's the only way that you will be able to. As of today and for the next seven days.
Not long in the post, the not-the-Podemos deputy mayor for public services, Som Palma's Aurora Jhardi, took it upon herself to make the terraces of the Born a battleground over a gentle stroll or a relaxing cup of café con leche. Aurora was digging trenches for the strolling citizenry. Relaxing cups of café con leche, right down the middle of the Born at any rate, were for Partido Popular-ists, Ana Botella having famously (or infamously) uttered the fateful café con leche line apropos Madrid's failed Olympic bid. But it was not only promenaders being denied their citizen birthright as a consequence of terrace invasion, there were also events traditionally held on the Born. There was the book fair, for instance, when vast stalls weighed down with mighty tomes expounding Catalan Marxist dialectic blocked the way of promenaders.
Aurora, to the chagrin of the bar owners, announced that the terraces would be no more, once what had been a trial period (of several years) ended in February next year. Little did anyone suspect, certainly not the bar owners, that a few months later, the citizens of Palma would be voting on their terraces. But that is exactly what they are doing, and Aurora and the town hall are delighted. Why? Because even if the vote doesn't go their way (it won't be legally binding in any event), the terrace referendum will have been a triumph for the new age of online democratic participation, albeit that, with some reluctance, the town hall had to accept that not all citizens are umbilically wired up to the internet: those who are not will be able to go to community centres and shown how to do it on a laptop brought in for the occasion.
Is it granting the town hall too much Machiavellianism to suggest that they might have had this in mind from the outset? Whip up a frenzy of publicity and then call a referendum, thus heralding the new age. Terraces may cause controversy, but they are hardly life or death (though they may be job or no job). They are a useful test project.
But test for what? Participation in the political process is an admirable, nay laudable aim, but there are limits and boundaries, and the terrace vote is not decisive as it has no legal authority. In a similar way, popular legislative proposals, such as the one which did for bullfighting in Catalonia, do not oblige parliamentary approval. The will of the people, sorry citizens, can be denied.
They are having their terraces' referendum, but if they can have one for these, then why not, say, one for the monument in Feixina park? Is a controversy that drags in old Nationalist-Republican feuding too hot a theme for the new age of participation, consensus and citizen proximity?
The consultative process cannot be selective, unless, that is, you hold a referendum to decide on whether to have a referendum.
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
Never Been Easy: Noise in Mallorca
Imagine that you are in Mallorca one hundred years ago. You are in a village. What can you hear? Voices, metallic tools striking earth or object, a newfangled automobile, animals. Even in Palma, things wouldn't have been so different, apart from there having been that many more voices, more automobiles plus ships and very occasionally by then an aircraft. Other noises would have been the music bands of the fiesta or the bells of the church; otherwise, noise was unobtrusive.
Of developments in the twentieth century, two were arguably more profound than others. Noise and light. They were profound because of their assault on senses. Both owed much to electricity which was, one hundred years ago, still in limited supply on Mallorca. Once supply was assured and grew, once other technologies advanced or were created, the twentieth century invented noise and light pollution.
By the start of the tourism revolution, noise would still have been contained, but once Mallorca's industrial revolution arrived, the collective decibel level shot up. So many more voices, so many more vehicles, airplanes, and also the sound of tourism - entertainment. While Mallorca had its clubs before the revolution really started, they were mostly indoor and mostly confined to Palma. The club, the entertainment offer, the gramophone player went al fresco in coastal resorts.
Tourism is noise. Noise is tourism. It is the noise of millions of voices, cheers, shouts, screams, laughs. The noise of the pool aerobics pumping a beat at ten in the morning. The noise of the evening playback, karaoke, tribute act, live act. Noise, that of music and voices rising into the night skies above terraces, has existed as long as modern tourism in Mallorca has, but once upon a time that noise extended with little control into the wee small hours. It was noise that seemed appropriate and acceptable, the noise of enjoyment of balmy summer nights, starlit skies and romance, either personal or simply that of the holiday.
On 26 March 1987, the Balearics introduced Decreto 20/1987: Measures of protection against acoustic contamination of the environment. There were laws already in place, national ones, that dealt with noise, but the Balearics decree of 1987 was pioneering for a region of Spain. One of its articles referred specifically to the noise from "establishments open to the public" which did not have adequate soundproofing. It had to cease by midnight. Curiously, and from what I can see in this decree, there was no specific mention of outdoor entertainment. Nevertheless, a midnight threshold for such entertainment was to catch on, if only at the level of some municipalities. The twelve o'clock curfew came in.
Twenty years later, a law was passed. Ley 1/2007 "against the acoustic contamination of the Balearic Islands" drew on European legislation and made certain stipulations in respect of what were called "zones of special acoustic protection". These were zones with elevated noise levels on account of the existence of numerous activities, shows and public establishments; essentially, therefore, though not exclusively, tourist zones. This law established that there had to be restricted hours placed on activities which, directly or indirectly, caused these elevated noise levels. In its preamble it referred to "individuals' indisputable rights to relaxation, health and privacy", to the rights of citizens to have acoustic environmental quality and to the "main productive sector of the Balearic Islands", i.e. tourism. The preamble recognised, and said as much, that it was no easy task to reconcile these competing demands.
And of course, it never has been easy. Even had tourism been developed in specific tourist-only areas, absent of residential accommodation, it still wouldn't be easy. There is, or so one concludes from an overwhelming impression through the likes of Trip Advisor, an aversion among holidaymakers to noise going on late. Maybe even in those romantic days they didn't appreciate it either, though one feels that there was less opposition back then. There again, these are the views of British holidaymakers. The Spanish would tend to have a different take.
The twenty-first century has been one of a continuing fight against the noise pollution which sprang up with tourism but which was only belatedly tackled. Limiters, terrace curfews, these are evidence of this fight which has been occurring in the resorts for years now, and it is one extended to the La Lonja area of Palma, which isn't a specifically tourist zone but is one of those zones of special protection highlighted in the 2007 law.
I am personally inclined towards the romantic view, the one of those hot summer nights when there weren't the controls, but I am also inclined to a different productive view of the 2007 law and one that is increasing in momentum, namely that the Spanish day and night needs changing and that more sleep is required. It has never been easy? It would have been a hundred years ago.
Of developments in the twentieth century, two were arguably more profound than others. Noise and light. They were profound because of their assault on senses. Both owed much to electricity which was, one hundred years ago, still in limited supply on Mallorca. Once supply was assured and grew, once other technologies advanced or were created, the twentieth century invented noise and light pollution.
By the start of the tourism revolution, noise would still have been contained, but once Mallorca's industrial revolution arrived, the collective decibel level shot up. So many more voices, so many more vehicles, airplanes, and also the sound of tourism - entertainment. While Mallorca had its clubs before the revolution really started, they were mostly indoor and mostly confined to Palma. The club, the entertainment offer, the gramophone player went al fresco in coastal resorts.
Tourism is noise. Noise is tourism. It is the noise of millions of voices, cheers, shouts, screams, laughs. The noise of the pool aerobics pumping a beat at ten in the morning. The noise of the evening playback, karaoke, tribute act, live act. Noise, that of music and voices rising into the night skies above terraces, has existed as long as modern tourism in Mallorca has, but once upon a time that noise extended with little control into the wee small hours. It was noise that seemed appropriate and acceptable, the noise of enjoyment of balmy summer nights, starlit skies and romance, either personal or simply that of the holiday.
On 26 March 1987, the Balearics introduced Decreto 20/1987: Measures of protection against acoustic contamination of the environment. There were laws already in place, national ones, that dealt with noise, but the Balearics decree of 1987 was pioneering for a region of Spain. One of its articles referred specifically to the noise from "establishments open to the public" which did not have adequate soundproofing. It had to cease by midnight. Curiously, and from what I can see in this decree, there was no specific mention of outdoor entertainment. Nevertheless, a midnight threshold for such entertainment was to catch on, if only at the level of some municipalities. The twelve o'clock curfew came in.
Twenty years later, a law was passed. Ley 1/2007 "against the acoustic contamination of the Balearic Islands" drew on European legislation and made certain stipulations in respect of what were called "zones of special acoustic protection". These were zones with elevated noise levels on account of the existence of numerous activities, shows and public establishments; essentially, therefore, though not exclusively, tourist zones. This law established that there had to be restricted hours placed on activities which, directly or indirectly, caused these elevated noise levels. In its preamble it referred to "individuals' indisputable rights to relaxation, health and privacy", to the rights of citizens to have acoustic environmental quality and to the "main productive sector of the Balearic Islands", i.e. tourism. The preamble recognised, and said as much, that it was no easy task to reconcile these competing demands.
And of course, it never has been easy. Even had tourism been developed in specific tourist-only areas, absent of residential accommodation, it still wouldn't be easy. There is, or so one concludes from an overwhelming impression through the likes of Trip Advisor, an aversion among holidaymakers to noise going on late. Maybe even in those romantic days they didn't appreciate it either, though one feels that there was less opposition back then. There again, these are the views of British holidaymakers. The Spanish would tend to have a different take.
The twenty-first century has been one of a continuing fight against the noise pollution which sprang up with tourism but which was only belatedly tackled. Limiters, terrace curfews, these are evidence of this fight which has been occurring in the resorts for years now, and it is one extended to the La Lonja area of Palma, which isn't a specifically tourist zone but is one of those zones of special protection highlighted in the 2007 law.
I am personally inclined towards the romantic view, the one of those hot summer nights when there weren't the controls, but I am also inclined to a different productive view of the 2007 law and one that is increasing in momentum, namely that the Spanish day and night needs changing and that more sleep is required. It has never been easy? It would have been a hundred years ago.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa mayor benefits from new terrace law
So finally, what has been known for a while but not being made public has been, the new ordinance in Pollensa covering the "public way" and terraces is set to benefit, through an extension of terrace area in the Plaça Major, the family business of Mayor Cifre, namely the Hotel Juma. Terraces in the square will become "intensely occupied" whereas terraces elsewhere will benefit hardly at all.
It might be noted that apparently the reason why the mayor did not attend the opening night of the tapas route in Puerto Pollensa was that the meeting he was involved with was one in which this extension was being set out. As someone in the port put it subsequently: "he didn't dare show his face".
See more: Diario de Mallorca
It might be noted that apparently the reason why the mayor did not attend the opening night of the tapas route in Puerto Pollensa was that the meeting he was involved with was one in which this extension was being set out. As someone in the port put it subsequently: "he didn't dare show his face".
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Thursday, March 15, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Terrace ordinance in Pollensa
PRs (tiqueteros) who harass passers-by are to be prohibited in Pollensa under a new local ordinance that is out for public scrutiny and proposals. There will also be a ban on equipment such as speakers and televisions on the "public way". Under this law, terraces would be able to stay open from seven in the morning till 2am.
(Comment - What is unclear is, where the ordinance refers to the public way, does this mean, for instance, that a television mounted on the wall of a bar for those on a terrace to watch would be banned? Presumably it does, if terraces are classified as the public way, which they are but only when they are not part of the property itself. But regardless of this, if a television is on the wall of a bar, then it is on the property and not the public way. Is it not? As for PRs, are they much of an issue in Pollensa?
Opposition to the law, expressed by the Alternativa, is such that it suggests that other approaches to passers-by, such as by political parties or charities, would also be banned. The provision for terraces being open till two in the morning is in line with what Palma town hall is envisaging for tourist centres in the city. By seeking to ban equipment on terraces, this is presumably partly designed to limit terrace noise beyond midnight.)
See more: Diario de Mallorca
(Comment - What is unclear is, where the ordinance refers to the public way, does this mean, for instance, that a television mounted on the wall of a bar for those on a terrace to watch would be banned? Presumably it does, if terraces are classified as the public way, which they are but only when they are not part of the property itself. But regardless of this, if a television is on the wall of a bar, then it is on the property and not the public way. Is it not? As for PRs, are they much of an issue in Pollensa?
Opposition to the law, expressed by the Alternativa, is such that it suggests that other approaches to passers-by, such as by political parties or charities, would also be banned. The provision for terraces being open till two in the morning is in line with what Palma town hall is envisaging for tourist centres in the city. By seeking to ban equipment on terraces, this is presumably partly designed to limit terrace noise beyond midnight.)
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Friday, March 20, 2009
Sitting Here On The Bench
Well, it all seemed to be kicking off in Puerto Pollensa's market square yesterday morning. I say kicking off; that is a bit of an exaggeration. But were it Easter already, there would be some unhappy Easter bunnies among the restaurant and bar owners. It's all to do with how much, or how many. Metres. Metres of terrace. It is not a new story in that restrictions have been anticipated for some while, but a by-law was passed last month which stipulated that terraces could be no deeper than 3.4 metres. Why 3.4 and not 3.5 I don't know, but that - apparently - is how far the tables and chairs of the establishments in the square can stretch. 3.5 metres are not very much, and - from a tourism and business point of view - it sucks; sorry, they suck. The owners can appeal, and have. Just as well; the last day of appeal is 24 March. As far as I am aware, this is just something that applies to the square, though it seems that - buried in the town hall - is a document which shows how far terraces can go, even for places that don't currently have them. Whatever. Anyway, the mayor was there in person, flanked by the local plod, while the traders put forward their case. I can't believe that this will not be challenged and overturned. An argument is that, because the tables stretch right across the pavement, they prevent people from sitting on the benches. Maybe so. In which case, why do they allow the market to take place? It may only be one morning, but the same problem applies. Why not move the benches? If I had to guess, there would be more people, far more people wanting to sit at a table in the square to have a meal on a warm summer's eve than there would be those who want to sit on a bench.
You do wonder at times if town halls would rather just kill off the tourism industry. If they got rid of it, then they would get rid of a number of headaches. Of course, one other development in Puerto Pollensa which, so the spurious argument went, would be a benefit to tourism, was that of the pedestrianisation. It seems like a long time since that was mentioned here, but what I am hearing is that, as far as traffic restrictions are concerned, vehicles will be able to use the whole of the coast road into Puerto Pollensa coming from Alcúdia. What's the point of that? If today is anything to go on, there are vehicles currently coming from the other direction as well. But were the road to be made one-way, it would not be a pedestrianisation, so why bother? This was never about benefits to tourism; it was all about an obscure piece of road legislation dating back to 1967, which appears to have brought ruination to some businesses since the so-called and botched trial was started last autumn. It was always a pointless exercise, and now it seems even more so.
Take it easy - sitting on roundabouts
More on the latest tourist excursion - the island tour of roundabout furniture and art. Further nominations for the birds nest affair in front of the Parc Natural (11 March: Fat Albert Rotunda) include a tornado (if you can actually sculpt a tornado), while the roundabout at what were the traffic lights and junction in Las Gaviotas now boasts something which is quite clearly a deckchair. Actually, it's pretty good in a sort-of contemporary, robust, IKEA or perhaps Paco Muebles deckchair style, as opposed to a Bognor-beach-circa-1965 way. I shall take a photo and you will be able to see for yourselves. I wonder how much it costs to sit on? Perhaps it is an ironic statement regarding the beach wars in Playa de Muro these past few years; those to do with sun beds and so on. Hopefully though, no-one will see fit to slash the sculpture in the dead of night.
The best election
Yes, that is election. Thank God. They could have got the word wrong I guess, rather than just the wrong word. And they are? GC Hotels. I was checking through the Google map that I have done and it seems the link to what were the Almarsa hotels (Estrella de Mar, Coral de Mar etc.) is out of date: it diverts to GC Hotels. The thing is that when you go to that site, you are greeted with a legend which states "The best election". Now, the word "elección" can mean election or selection (choice). Clearly, they have picked the wrong possibility for translation. They shouldn't have. Please, no more of the oh well it's quite funny when foreigners make poor translations excuses. It is not funny. It is downright unprofessional. The hotels of Mallorca are meant to offer quality. And quality should exist in all aspects of their business, including translations. Poor.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Daniel Bedingfield (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxI2DEE_Nco). Today's title - line from a fabulous song from the '60s. Circa 1965 in fact: the British hit was by a well-known George.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
You do wonder at times if town halls would rather just kill off the tourism industry. If they got rid of it, then they would get rid of a number of headaches. Of course, one other development in Puerto Pollensa which, so the spurious argument went, would be a benefit to tourism, was that of the pedestrianisation. It seems like a long time since that was mentioned here, but what I am hearing is that, as far as traffic restrictions are concerned, vehicles will be able to use the whole of the coast road into Puerto Pollensa coming from Alcúdia. What's the point of that? If today is anything to go on, there are vehicles currently coming from the other direction as well. But were the road to be made one-way, it would not be a pedestrianisation, so why bother? This was never about benefits to tourism; it was all about an obscure piece of road legislation dating back to 1967, which appears to have brought ruination to some businesses since the so-called and botched trial was started last autumn. It was always a pointless exercise, and now it seems even more so.
Take it easy - sitting on roundabouts
More on the latest tourist excursion - the island tour of roundabout furniture and art. Further nominations for the birds nest affair in front of the Parc Natural (11 March: Fat Albert Rotunda) include a tornado (if you can actually sculpt a tornado), while the roundabout at what were the traffic lights and junction in Las Gaviotas now boasts something which is quite clearly a deckchair. Actually, it's pretty good in a sort-of contemporary, robust, IKEA or perhaps Paco Muebles deckchair style, as opposed to a Bognor-beach-circa-1965 way. I shall take a photo and you will be able to see for yourselves. I wonder how much it costs to sit on? Perhaps it is an ironic statement regarding the beach wars in Playa de Muro these past few years; those to do with sun beds and so on. Hopefully though, no-one will see fit to slash the sculpture in the dead of night.
The best election
Yes, that is election. Thank God. They could have got the word wrong I guess, rather than just the wrong word. And they are? GC Hotels. I was checking through the Google map that I have done and it seems the link to what were the Almarsa hotels (Estrella de Mar, Coral de Mar etc.) is out of date: it diverts to GC Hotels. The thing is that when you go to that site, you are greeted with a legend which states "The best election". Now, the word "elección" can mean election or selection (choice). Clearly, they have picked the wrong possibility for translation. They shouldn't have. Please, no more of the oh well it's quite funny when foreigners make poor translations excuses. It is not funny. It is downright unprofessional. The hotels of Mallorca are meant to offer quality. And quality should exist in all aspects of their business, including translations. Poor.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Daniel Bedingfield (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxI2DEE_Nco). Today's title - line from a fabulous song from the '60s. Circa 1965 in fact: the British hit was by a well-known George.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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